How to Group or Ungroup Objects in PowerPoint Online and Google Slides

Google Slides, PowerPoint / By /

Grouping and ungrouping objects is an important skill when working with presentation software like PowerPoint or Google Slides. It allows you to easily move, resize, format, and manage multiple objects as a single unit. This article will provide a step-by-step guide on how to group and ungroup objects in both PowerPoint Online and Google Slides.

Benefits of Grouping Objects

Here are some of the key benefits of grouping objects in your presentations:

  • Easily move or resize multiple objects at once
  • Apply formatting like colors, borders, effects to multiple objects simultaneously
  • Keep related objects together as you organize and layout your slides
  • Simplify working with complex illustrations or diagrams
  • Improve alignment of objects that need to have the same orientation
  • Reduce effort when duplicating groups of objects across slides

Overall, grouping streamlines working with multiple objects, saving you time and effort.

Grouping Objects in PowerPoint Online

Follow these simple steps to group objects in PowerPoint Online:

  1. Open the PowerPoint presentation in PowerPoint Online and navigate to the slide containing the objects.
  2. Select the objects you want to group by holding down the CTRL key and clicking on each object. The selected objects will have a dotted border around them.
  3. On the Format tab, click the Group button. You can also right-click and select Group from the context menu. Group button in PowerPoint Online
  4. The selected objects are now grouped and treated as a single object. You’ll see a single dotted border around the group.

That’s it! You can now work with the grouped objects more efficiently.

Ungrouping Objects in PowerPoint Online

If you need to edit individual objects that were previously grouped, you can ungroup them by following these steps:

  1. Select the object group that you want to ungroup. The group will have a dotted border around it.
  2. On the Format tab, click the Ungroup button. You can also right-click and choose Ungroup. Ungroup button in PowerPoint Online
  3. The object group is now ungrouped into individual objects that can be edited independently.

And done! The objects are detached from the group and can be worked on separately.

Grouping Objects in Google Slides

Grouping objects in Google Slides works very similarly:

  1. Open your Google Slides presentation and navigate to the slide with objects you want to group.
  2. Select the objects by holding down SHIFT and clicking them one by one. Or click-drag a rectangle around all the objects to select them simultaneously. The selected objects will have a light blue outline.
  3. Right-click on the selected objects and choose Group from the context menu. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+ALT+G (Windows) or CMD+ALT+G (Mac). Group option in Google Slides context menu
  4. The objects are now grouped. All the selected objects will be encompassed within a single light blue outline, indicating they’re grouped.

The steps for ungrouping are just as easy:

  1. Select the object group that you want to ungroup.
  2. Right-click and choose Ungroup from the context menu. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+G (Windows) or CMD+ALT+SHIFT+G (Mac).
  3. The object group will be ungrouped, and the individual objects can be edited separately.

And that’s all there is to it! Now you know how to easily group and ungroup objects both in PowerPoint Online and Google Slides.

Common Questions About Grouping Objects

Here are answers to some common questions about grouping objects:

Which objects can be grouped?
In both PowerPoint and Google Slides, you can group shapes, images, icons, and other graphical elements. But groups cannot contain text boxes or tables.

Can I group objects across multiple slides?
No, you can only group objects that exist on the same slide. Objects across different slides cannot be grouped.

What happens when I copy or duplicate a group?
When you duplicate an object group using copy/paste or other methods, the copied group remains grouped and is treated as a single object.

Is there a maximum number of objects I can group?
There is no explicitly defined limit, but having an extremely large number of objects in a group can make your presentation complex to manage and edit. For best results, keep your groups reasonably sized based on what makes sense for your content.

Conclusion

Learning to effectively group and ungroup objects makes managing your PowerPoint Online and Google Slides presentations much more efficient. Use grouping to streamline working with multiple objects as a cohesive unit. And leverage ungrouping when you need to modify individual objects within a group.

With the simple steps covered in this guide, you should now feel confident grouping and ungrouping objects in both tools. Proper use of grouping can save you lots of time while organizing and formatting presentation content.

So give it a try in your next PowerPoint or Google Slides project! Let us know if you have any other questions.

Related Posts